Rise Of Heroes:Dream World
by TPBvirus
Summary: Sequel to Rise of Heroes. The heroes that lie in bed in the hospital are in their own dream worlds, but soon they are going to find out that even in their dreams, they aren't safe. Here in this land of dreams, they will continue to grow stronger.
1. The Duelist

**The Dream World**

**Summary:**** Rin "wakes" up in a renaissance era world and must fight unnamed forces that stand in her way from rescuing Prince Brian. **

Rin worked herself up to her feet. Her body felt like lead as she got up. The sun shined down on her face for the first time in weeks. She knew today was going to be good. She got out of her sleeping garments and into a clean dress and headed outside. She walked outside and into a busy walkway; plenty of people that didn't know her greeted her, and she was confused by how real everything was. The air was crisp, and the grit in her fingernails felt like she had lived in that world since she was born.

"May I ask for today's date," Rin said to an unknown person.

"My, it's May 15th, 1567, miss," he said. Tin looked around; the place was like a scene from a fairy tale. There were knights that walked around in suits of armor. Men and women dressed in renaissance attire. She was even dressed in that fashion as well.

She walked down the pathway and reached the central plaza. There were vendors all around the open space, and she walked around and bought items from the merchants. She saw a bunch of men looking at something in the middle of the plaza. When Rin stepped nearer, she saw clearly it was a bulletin board with a heading that said, "Today's Quests!"

"Hey young lady, I don't think you should be here," one of the men said, "little ladies shouldn't be out in the wild on their own."

"Have ye no faith," Rin said. Oddly, she somehow gained the ability to speak in a more or less ancient accent. "Can't a woman be able to do the same things a man can."

The man shook his head, but Rin continued into the crowd of men.

She made her way closer, shoving the men aside, and she looked at the headline quest of the day, "Prince Brian Missing: Collect him alive and receive the reward of a single wish granted."

Rin smiled, and thought that would be a quest worthwhile in this world.

Rin soon left the plaza and made her way back to her "home." She packed whatever she thought she needed: a map, food, water, clothes, flint, and steel. She looked at the toy foil on the ground; Rin remembered that had been Yuna's gift to her in the real world. When she picked it up, the foil shined and turned into a full size rapier, complete with its own scabbard. She tucked the sword on the left side of her hip, and headed on out the door and out to the city gates.

As Rin walked down the pathway, the people looked at her oddly. They remained silent as she walked into the plaza, and everyone even stopped what they were doing. Bakers stopped baking. The merchants halted transactions. Even children stopped playing. They all set their eyes on Rin.

When Rin was 50 yards away from the city gate, a kid her age ran up behind her and ran into her.

"Ow," he said. The kid fell onto the floor and looked up at Rin.

"Who are you," Rin asked.

"My name is Adrian," he said, "I want to help you on your quest."

Rin thought about it; she wouldn't mind having the company with her since it was at least a two days journey to the place where Prince Brian supposedly was kept.

"Fine," she said, "you can come."

"Yes," he said. They walked out the gates together. Much of the town was watching them as they exited, and all of them still remained silent as the two of them headed out into the woods.

The two talked to each other while they hiked down the trail in the woods. They discovered a lot about each other, and the two became friends as they traveled the lonely road together.

The sun was going down, and the two of them managed to walk all the way through the woods in a single day. They were now standing on a cliff overlooking a valley; the next part of their journey had to be through that valley and up Mount Bek. There they will most likely find Prince Brian and rescue him from his captors.

Adrian and Rin set up camp on the ridge; while Adrian prepared the tents, Rin started the fire.

"Rin," Adrian asked, "what brought you to go on the quest?"

He didn't ask that question at all on the hike, Rin thought.

"Um, I guess, I just wanted to get away from the city," Rin said.

"I see," Adrian replied. He sat by the fire, and Rin sat next to him. "I can tell you are not from this world."

"How," Rin asked.

"Just your demeanor," he said, "women from this time, are nowhere as near free-spirited."

"I see."

Something rustled in the bushes.

"Something's coming," Adrian said. He pulled out the long sword he was carrying. Rin unsheathed her rapier.

Bandits jumped out of the bushes and attacked them. Adrian charged in began wildly swinging his sword. The bandits frightened by his technique still fought him, and he was able to slay a few.

Rin backed off just a bit, carefully examining the situation. She was surrounded by three men. One jumped up from behind her she ducked and ran her sword through him. Another bandit jumped on her, but she threw the dead one off of her back, knocking the one that jumped on her to the ground. The last bandit slashed at her, she parried the attack and countered with a flurry of fatal slices, eliminating that bandit. When the other guy recovered, she lunged at him and ran her blade through him.

The bandits, losing too many men to two supposedly easy targets, retreated into the darkness.

"Rin, I think they might come back when we're asleep," Adrian said, "I'll take the first watch, and I'll wake you up in a couple of hours."

All of sudden, in the middle of the night, Rin was awoken by hands grabbing her and stuffing her in a bag. Outside, she heard Adrian talking with one of the bandits. She wanted to say a bunch of unmentionable names to him, but she was muffled by the bag placed over her head.

She was hit in the back of the head and was knocked out.

Mt. Bek: Dungeon

When Rin awakened, she had a painful migraine, and she was shackled by her hands and feet to a wall. Next to her was someone she didn't recognize.

"What's your name," she asked.

The man coughed, "Brian. What's yours?"

"Rin," she said.

"Rin, what a nice name," Brian said.

The dungeon door opened, Adrian walked into the room.

"Adrian," Rin said angrily.

"What, my sweet Rin, why are you so down," he said with a smirk on his face, "if all you wanted was to get out of the city, here you are now, far away from it."

"That's not what I meant," she said.

"Of course," Adrian said. He caressed his hand over her face. Rin spit on his hand.

"As for you, Brian, my brother," Adrian said, "where is the treasure? Where is it?"

"You'll never find it," Brian replied. Adrian punched him in the gut. Brian spit out blood.

"No, don't do that, Adrian," Rin pleaded.

"You'll shut up woman," Adrian commanded. He slapped her across the face. "Now, I'll be in my room, and if in 15 minutes neither of you satisfies my wishes, both of your heads are coming off," he said. Adrian stormed out of the room, and left Brian and Rin by themselves.

"_Rin,"_ said an angelic voice, _"remember, this is your dream, you have the power here, not him."_

Rin heard what the angelic voice said, and thought about how they could get out of the dungeon. She closed her eyes and imagined herself out of the chains, and when she opened her eyes she was free of the shackles that bound her. Then she imagined a key and unlocked Prince Brian's chains.

They walked over to the door, and Rin used the key to unlock the door. The guards startled by their sudden escape, tried to herd them back into the cell using their lances, but Rin materialized her rapier in her hand and quickly eliminated the two guards.

Prince Brian and Rin went up the stairs and through several hallways and ended up in the throne room. A single chandelier lit the gloomy area, and in the throne was none other than Adrian.

"Congratulations, Rin," Adrian said, "you escaped, but I don't think my brother will."

He pulled out a knife and threw it at Brian, but Brian pulled out a katana and deflected the knife.

"Not today, brother," Brian said.

"Gyahh," Adrian cried out. He pulled out his long sword which this time was much larger than it was when he used it in the forest. He swung the gigantic blade at Brian, but Brian blocked it. Rin jumped on the blade and lunged at Adrian. Adrian step back and blocked the attack.

He swung the giant blade again, this time at Rin.

"Riposte," Rin said. She deflected the attack and counterattacked with a jab at Adrian's shoulder.

"Eek," Adrian cried. His shirt was beginning to be stained with blood. He slashed again and this time Rin ducked under the blade, and used "Burst of Speed." She repeatedly jabbed and cut Adrian when he was recovering from swinging his giant blade.

Adrian jumped back and began to focus his attacks on Brian. Brian managed to block all of Adrian's attacks with his katana. Brian then followed with a slash that cut through the wind and sent a burst of air at Adrian. When Adrian was distracted, Rin jumped into the fight, and quickly landed more hits on Adrian.

Adrian enraged by his inability to attack his opponents went into a blind rage. He swung his blade violently. Each swing packed the force of a speeding car. Brian attempted to deflect one of the slashes but was knocked against the wall.

"Hahahaha," Adrian said, "you're all alone now." He lifted his gigantic blade into the air and swing it downward at Rin. She put her blade up and with one hand on the handle and the other on the blade; she blocked the gigantic long sword. However, her own blade was now cutting into her hand.

Rin gritted her teeth as she pushed the giant blade off of her. Stunned by Rin's strength, Adrian fell backwards and attempted to recover.

Rin looked at her left hand which was now covered in blood. She cut off the piece of a nearby curtain to wrap around her hand. As she carefully tied the cloth together, Adrian stood back up and once again blindly swung his long sword. Rin dodged the attacks as she ran to the other side of the room.

She then remembered the words of the angelic voice_, "This is your dream, you have the power here, not him."_

She imagined herself with great speed, and she flew across the room at lightning quick velocity. Adrian slashed at where she was, but by then she had gone to a different part of the room or had completely dodged the attack.

"Time to end this," Rin said. "Blade Waltz!" She soon dashed across the room several times, each time landing a deadly laceration upon Adrian. By the end of her attack, Adrian fell to the ground and turned into ashes.

"Whew," Rin said. She quickly ran over to Brian, who had regained consciousness.

"Well you rescued me," he said gladly, "What is your wish?"

"I wish to free from this world," Rin replied.

"Very well," Brian motioned his servants and they opened up a door with only darkness ahead. Then several lighted steps led out of the door. "Here is your ticket out," he said, "but beware, Adrian is only the beginning of the nightmare."

"I'll remember that," she said. She walked through the door with her rapier back in its scabbard.

The door shut behind her, and the lighted pathway led to a portal she with which she had become familiar. These were the same portals that brought into the real world the minions and monsters, what lay beyond this portal, who knew.

She walked into it, hoping for the best.


	2. The Muse

**Dream World: Jennifer's Mind**

**Summary: ****Jennifer is playing in a piano concert; in the audience is someone she oddly thinks is a longtime friend of hers. His name is Adrian.**

Jennifer woke up. She was on a couch in a dressing room. She had a beautiful blue gown on, and a stage director came into the room.

"Jennifer Yeung, you're on deck," she said. Jennifer suddenly remembered she had a piece to play at tonight's performance. She also remembered that there was someone important in the audience tonight but she couldn't put her tongue on the name.

"Next up, Jennifer Yeung, to play 'Inochi no Namae (Name of Life),' composed by Joe Hisaishi, from the original animated feature, _Spirited Away_," the announcer said. She stepped onto the stage and before her was a large grand piano. She began to play the piece; she couldn't remember the song, so she improvised most of the parts. On one of the rest notes, she quickly looked into the crowd and saw him, the person that was there for her. She soon remembered the rest of the piece, and played it amazingly.

She continued to play the song, and with each note she attempted to remember the name of the person in the crowd. Then it her, she remembered the name, "Adrian Trinh." She followed up with a wonderful crescendo that brought the crowd to tears and slowly ended the song. The crowd loved her and they all cheered and threw roses at her.

Jennifer went backstage, of herself, and went out into the lobby. Her parents gathered around her and congratulated her; they also handed her a bouquet of roses, and she smiled with glee. Then a boy her age came around.

"Hi, Jennifer," he said shyly, "my name is…"

"Adrian," she said.

"Yeah, how did you know," he asked.

"Intuition, I guess," she replied.

"I got this for you." He gave her a small, gift wrapped box. When she opened it, there was a slender golden pen with her name on it.

"Thank you," Jennifer said happily. She wrapped her arms around him, and the two of them walked out of the theater together.

The air outside was cool and refreshing after being inside of the stuffy theater. Jennifer and Adrian walked hand in hand down the sidewalk.

A couple of thugs pulled up on the curb and walked toward Jennifer and Adrian.

"Give us your money, kid," they said. They pushed Adrian around and eventually pinned him down. Jennifer only watched as her new friend was being mugged right before her eyes. She began to run off, but another thug came up from behind and grabbed her by the hand.

"Hey boss, what should we do about the runner," the thug said.

A guy, dressed in a blue hoodie and a baggy jeans, who was supposedly the boss of this gang, said, "check the girl, she probably has some valuables on her."

The guy took off Jennifer's jacket and searched it. She struggled but the man was simply too strong for her. When he was about to check the pockets, Adrian went ballistic. He threw the two thugs that were holding him to the ground. The thug holding Jennifer let go of her to fight Adrian.

Jennifer now released from the grip of the thug watched as Adrian laid a beating on the thugs with his bare hands. He took out a couple of guys using a sweep kick and a bunch of other moves. The thug holding Jennifer lunged toward him, attempting to bring him to the ground. Adrian slid to the left and jammed his right leg into his gut and finished him off with an uppercut.

Scared of Adrian's power, the boss pulled a handgun from his pants and pulled back the hammer. Adrian turned around and saw the pistol pointed at him. He dashed forward.

The boss pulled the trigger, and Jennifer covered her face in fear.

However Adrian managed to push the handgun into the air causing the bullet to miss. Then he broke the boss's hand and landed a kick to his face and round house kicked him into the car.

Adrian then walked over to Jennifer who still had her eyes covered by her arm. He moved her arm out of the way so he could see her face, but her eyes were shut.

"Jennifer, it's ok, I'm here," he said. Jennifer opened her eyes and saw Adrian, beaten and battered, but still alive. She wrapped her arms around him once more and cried in his shoulder.

Pier 39: Ferry Dock, Dream Time Lapse, 3 Months

Jennifer, Adrian, and the rest of the group went out to the pier again. This time, they were planning on taking a ferry tour around the bay. They all boarded the ship and headed out to sea. The sun was going down and lights from all around the city turned on, giving a natural dream like glow to the city,

Jennifer and Adrian were sitting next to each other, cuddling, while the rest of the group played cards at another table. When they passed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, Jennifer and Adrian headed out to the bow of the ship and took pictures together and with the rest of the group.

Thomas had somehow disappeared from the group and no one noticed except for Jennifer. She ran off to try and look for Thomas.

"Where are you going," Adrian asked, "you're missing out on all the fun."

"I'm looking for Thomas," she replied.

"Who's he?"

"What you don't know him, he was just with us."

"Thomas, who is he," Daniel said in a demeaning way.

"But, I swear, he was in this," Jennifer responded. She stopped when everyone was beginning to question her about who Thomas is. She ran into the ferry and checked each table. She only saw strangers and faces she knew from some other reality but could not find Thomas.

Jennifer now went to the top level of the ship and saw Thomas looking out toward the bay. He turned around and saw Jennifer.

"Thomas, what are you doing up here," Jennifer asked softly.

Thomas continued to stare out at the sea; it was like he was caught in some trance and couldn't take his eyes off something in the distance.

He pulled out the hammer keychain and activated it. This time a dark energy consumed his hand and the Mercury Hammer appeared, but it wasn't the same one she was used to seeing. He swung the hammer around and hit Jennifer across the deck into a guard rail. People started running around, trying to escape Thomas.

Adrian and the rest of the group heard the commotion upstairs, and they started running to the top deck.

Jennifer, dizzy from the hit, slowly stood back up. Thomas leapt into the air with a "To the Skies" attack, but Darren intercepted him with his anchor, and initiated the close range attack on Thomas.

Adrian ran up to Jennifer and asked, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said. The rest of the guys weren't doing so well. Thomas managed to take each of them out in a single hit with his hammer. Yuna summoned Tibbers, but Thomas used "Thundering Blow" to smack Tibbers into the water. He grabbed Yuna by her shirt and tossed her aside.

Adrian, angered by Thomas, attacked him. He pulled out a long sword somehow and started to fight Thomas. Thomas managed to deflect most of his wild attacks and countered with a "To the Skies/Lightning Field" combo. A ray of electricity shocked Adrian and brought him down.

"No, Adrian," Jennifer cried. Adrian was slowly getting back up, but Thomas jumped back and began running toward Adrian. He began to say the word, "Thundering," and Jennifer knew that Thomas was going to end Adrian's life pretty soon unless she did something.

She searched her backpack and pulled out the mini-keyboard that Yuna had bought as a birthday gift. She started playing a piece of music on it, and the keyboard grew into a full size keyboard that floated in the air. She continued to the play the song "Aria of Perserverance." She didn't know how she could play this song, but she continued to play it. A string of notes flew toward Adrian, and he was instantly healed. Adrian put up a force field and blocked the "Thundering Blow" attack, and began his savage counter attack.

Adrian slashed several times, making deep cuts into Thomas's right arm. With his right arm rendered useless, Thomas put the Mercury hammer in his left hand, and continued to fight, though not as strongly as before. Adrian easily blocked the attacks, and Jennifer continued and began to play a different song, "Hymn of Valor."

With this song in play, Adrian's attacks became fiercer. Thomas was shaken by each blow that was made upon him, but he still kept fighting. She hit a hard chord, and a string of notes shot out of the keyboard and bombarded Thomas. Stunned by the damage, Thomas fell back, and Adrian took advantage of the situation. He got up close and roundhouse kicked Thomas along the right cheek. Thomas fell onto the rail of the ship, but still kept fighting.

Thomas spun around with the hammer and hit Adrian on his blind side. Adrian fell back and clutched his arm in pain; Thomas has probably broken is arm or dislocated his shoulder. Adrian let go of his sword, and Thomas hit him again with the hammer.

"Adrian," Jennifer said quietly. She watched as one once again, her friend was in dire need of help but she ran out of ideas. She tried playing the "Hymn of Valor" and the "Aria of Perserverance," but none of them had any effect on Adrian's condition.

Thomas continued to put a beating on Adrian, and Jennifer frantically kept playing the keyboard to figure out some way of helping Adrian. Then out of the back of her head, she thought of something.

"Crescendo," she exclaimed. She slid her hand across the keyboard from the lowest to the highest keys and unleashed a powerful wave of musical energy.

Thomas was battered by this wave of music and began to start dancing, giving enough time for Adrian to recover.

Adrian got to his feet and grabbed Thomas. Thomas let go of his hammer, and the hammer turned back into its original keychain form. The two of them began a hand-to-hand brawl determine who would be victorious.

Thomas soon got Adrian in a headlock and threw Adrian off the side of the boat. Adrian clung onto the edge, but barely hung on. Then Thomas attacked Jennifer, but Adrian, with all of his remaining energy, pulled himself back up to the deck and ran at Thomas.

Adrian knocked Thomas into the rail on the starboard side of the ferry. Then he and Thomas grabbed each other and threw themselves off the boat.

"Nooo," Jennifer cried. She ran with tears dripping out of her eyes as she ran over to the rail. Adrian and Thomas had disappeared beneath the waves, but Jennifer was determined to bring back one of them.

Jennifer hopped onto the rail and jumped into the water. She was suddenly immersed into a world of coldness. She looked around but all she saw was darkness. She was neither wet nor drowning.

A hand reached out in front of her; it appeared to be Adrian's hand. She kept reaching toward it but couldn't grasp it. She started swimming toward it, and finally touched it. When she touched it, the hand turned into a thousand birds that flew off into a never ending black sky.

In despair, Jennifer continued to fall into the darkness. Behind her, a white light opened, and she fell through it.


	3. The Open Sea

**Darren/Wanny Shared Dream World**

**Summary:**** Wannny falls out of the sky into a giant ocean. There he is rescued by a ship commanded by Captain Adrian. He also finds Darren on the ship.**

Wanny looked up and all he saw was a clear blue sky he had not seen for nearly two months. He looked down; he instantly realized he was falling as he saw a clear murky, green blue ocean come steadily toward him.

As he hits the water, he doesn't feel the wetness of the water as much as being consumed by a swirl of colors. He felt no pain, and all he saw below him was a school of parrot fish swimming around and flaunting their colors.

Wanny soon floated to the surface of the water and bobbed around on the surface. Then he saw a ship that came from the colonial age. The ship flew black flags decorated with a skull and crossbones and had tattered and torn sails that waved in the wind, a few of the iconic details that identified the ship as most likely being a pirate ship.

"Man overboard," a deckhand on the ship called. Quickly, a boat was dropped into the water with a small crew, and they rowed toward him. When the boat was at Wanny's side, a man held out his hand, and Wanny grabbed it. The crew pulled him aboard the boat, and they rowed back to the ship.

Once aboard, he was greeted by a host of unfamiliar faces. Then, out of the crowd, came a man dressed much more extravagantly than the rest of the crew. He was young, maybe a little older than Wanny, but obviously the captain of the ship as everyone that he saw had some respect for him.

"What is your name," the captain asked.

"Jonathan, sir," Wanny replied, "but you can call me…"

"Wanny," someone exclaimed from the audience. Wanny looked over and saw Darren, running toward him.

"Mr. Doe," the captain said, "you know this man."

"Yes, sir," he replied, "he is one of my friends from school."

"I see," the captain said, "well, I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Captain Adrian Trinh. And this is my ship, the Night Terror."

"Very nice," Wanny said.

"Mr. Doe," Captain Adrian commanded, "take, Mr…"

"Tung," Wanny said.

"Mr. Tung to the crew quarters where you'll be staying for the next few weeks we're out at sea."

"Yes, sir," Darren said. Darren guided Wanny down below the deck and into a dimly lit area filled with hammocks.

"How'd you get here," Darren asked.

"I fell out of the sky," Wanny replied, "you?'

"I woke up in one of these hammocks."

"Lucky. How long have you been here, on this ship?"

"A week now, it's not that bad."

"I see," Wanny said, "but last thing I remember, we were on a hill somewhere."

"What, so this is a dream then."

"Yeah, Darren," Wanny said sarcastically.

"But everything seemed so real, and I couldn't remember what happened in the real world. When, I saw you I just remembered school, and that's it."

"Ok…"

Darren looked around.

"What are you looking for," Wanny asked.

"I'm looking for a dry set of clothes for you." Darren looked back at Wanny and saw that he was perfectly dry. Darren even felt him and all he felt was cloth and no water.

"Well this is awkward, this is just a dream, I can control them right."

Wanny had just imagined that he had dry clothes, and dry clothes had replaced his wet ones.

"Ugh, I don't have any control over my dreams," Darren said.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK!" Captain Adrian commanded. Darren and Wanny ran up to the deck, and the day went from being perfect to stormy. A giant wave battered the deck, and Wanny and Darren grabbed onto the mast so that they wouldn't be swept off into the sea.

"There it is," Captain Adrian exclaimed.

"There is what," Wanny asked.

"The KRAKEN!"

Wanny looked up and a huge tentacle was lifted into the air. The crew desperately tried to defend themselves by throwing spears and firing their muskets at the gigantic piece of squid, but the tentacle wrapped itself around the main mast and ripped it off.

Cannon fire had filled the air, as the crew in the cannon decks fired off rounds into the invading tentacles.

"Why do I always get the bad end of the bargain, when it comes to adventures," Wanny asked himself. He activated the "Runic Glove" and put it on right hand. Another tentacle came up from the rear of the ship. Wanny aimed his glove at the tentacle, "Mystic Shot!" A much more powerful burst of white energy flew out from the palm of the glove. It struck at the center of the tentacle and disintegrated much of the flesh.

The tentacle went back into the ocean, and two more tentacles came up in its place. Wanny charged up his glove and fired a "Mystic Shot" at the tentacle on the right. The tentacle on the left was coming down on him.

"Gyah," Wanny said. He tried running out of the way. When he was about to get crushed, an anchor flew out and hit the tentacle aside.

Wanny looked to his left and saw Darren swinging the anchor back toward him. The tentacle he had slammed slowly sunk back into the sea.

Several more tentacles popped out from all sides of the ship.

"Look out," Darren said. Wanny turned around, and a tentacle swept him off his feet. Another tentacle wrapped around his right leg and dragged him high into the air.

"Essence Flux," Wanny said hurriedly. An array of orbs fired out of his glove and shot through the tentacle. The tentacle, now cut into several pieces, fell into bits, and now Wanny was falling out of the sky again, "twice in one day," he said.

When he was falling, he used his imagination to slow down time. Soon he was falling slowly and was able to have time to use skills in flight. He fired several "Mystic Shots" and "Essence Fluxes" at the tentacles surrounding the ship.

As he saw the deck of the ship come closer, Wanny said, "Arcane Shift," and landed safely back onto the deck. After using the spell so many times, Wanny had figured out how to make soft landings, unlike when he first started using it.

Darren saw Wanny shooting down tentacles left and right, but a couple of tentacles came down upon Darren and wrapped him up. They began to squeeze him but Darren was able to spit out the words, "Titan's Wrath." A dark shield surrounded him and burned off the tentacles that had trapped him. A group of tentacles broke through the hull of the ship and came up from underneath Darren.

"Riptide," Darren said. A burst of energy came out of Darren and destroyed the tentacles beneath him. Then Darren fell through the hole the tentacles had made in the hull. Darren grabbed onto one of the remaining logs that made up the deck. Wanny came in and helped him back up onto the deck.

The decks below were flooding with sea water, and the crew continued to struggle to fight against the tentacles.

"Keep going," Captain Adrian commanded. He pulled out his flintlock pistol and shot a tentacle that was holding a barrel of gunpowder. The soaked powder somehow ignited and exploded, destroying the tentacle holding the barrel, and a couple of nearby tentacles.

Several of the crew members had been dragged into the sea, smashed by the falling masts, squeezed to death by the tentacles, or all of the above.

Then all the tentacles dropped beneath the surface of the sea. The remaining crew cheered, and so did Captain Adrian. Then from the bow, emerged the mouth of the Kraken. Tentacles sprung up everywhere and a bunch of the crew were snatched up and tossed into the orifice.

Captain Adrian changed from his jovial attitude to a serious one, "fight once more," he said. He picked up a musket and fired it into the mouth of the creature. The creature jolted back but was not very affected by the gunshot.

"Mystic Shot, Essence Flux," Wanny said. Bolts of energy and light orbs were fired out of the glove and into the mouth of the creature. The creature identified the power of these attacks and blocked them with unoccupied tentacles.

Another tentacle dropped upon Wanny, but Darren blocked it using his anchor. "Go, Darren,"

Wanny charged forward, firing off basic attacks, "Mystic Shots," and "Essence Fluxes." The creature took the blows but still managed to fight. Darren shrugged off the tentacle and used "Dredge Line" to bring himself closer to the creature. Wanny hopped onto the thrown anchor and landed right in front of the mouth of the Kraken. Darren used "Riptide" to open up the mouth of the creature, and Wanny shot several spells down the throat of the creature.

The Kraken disengaged itself from the ship and now swam off only a couple of feet. Darren said, "You're not getting away." He charged up a sphere of energy and launched it into the water, "Depth Charge," Darren said. The sphere glided swiftly through the water, and then slammed into the escaping Kraken. A huge underwater explosion rattled the remnants of the ship, and the dead Kraken came up to the surface.

The crew cheered. "Thank You, Mr. Doe," Captain Adrian said, "I will promote you to the rank of First Mate, since Brian unfortunately died during this incident." The crew cheered and then gave a moment of silence for Brian.

"Thank you, sir," Darren said.

"As for your first order, I want you to execute Mr. Tung on the account of treason," Captain Adrian said. He gave a loaded pistol to Darren.

"But, why," Darren asked.

"That man cursed our ship, he brought the Kraken here, and now he will pay for it. Kill him."

Darren pointed the trigger at Wanny's head. In a split second decision, he turned around and shot Captain Adrian in the chest. "I will not kill my friend," Darren said. The crew angrily pulled out their cutlasses and pointed them at Darren and Wanny.

Adrian coughed up some blood, and somehow got up after what should've been a fatal wound. "I'm afraid I cannot let you live, if you are so willing to turn against your captain like that." A board was laid out above the water. "I'm going to have to send you two off the board," Captain Adrian said, " I neither have any ammunition left to waste on to pathetic fools like you."

He pulled out his sword and jabbed at Darren and Wanny until they were at the edge of the board. Beneath Darren and Wanny, was not a pool of sharks, but I spiraling whirlpool of supposed doom.

"I think I'm going to take my chances," Darren said, "at least we won't die being ripped to shreds." He jumped into the water and was sucked into the whirlpool.

"Wait for me," Wanny said. He jumped into the whirlpool too.

Then the two of them were enveloped in complete darkness. A lighted pathway guided them to a portal.

"Let's go," Wanny said. The two of them walked into the portal.


	4. The Shadow Fox

**Summary: ****Thomas and Jonathan reappear into a world similar to the real world. They meet a kid named Adrian Trinh whom the two don't recognize at all. **

"Ok, class, turn to Act 3, Scene 1," Mr. Ceegler said. I woke up on my desk. Everything was hazy and Mr. Ceegler walked over and asked me, "Thomas, would you mind reading the next passage?"

I didn't have my book out. I looked around, and realized something wasn't right. In the desk where Dan would be, was instead Jonathan who was sound asleep.

"Mr. Ceegler, I don't have my book," I said. Mr. Ceegler frowned and walked over to Jonathan and asked him the same question. Jonathan did not stir. I walked over and pushed him, and he got up quickly.

The bell rang, and Jonathan and I ran out as quickly as possible. We were joined by a group of unfamiliar faces that called us their "friends." We walked faster and noticed that these "friends" started to chase us.

"Jonathan, I don't think these are our friends,"

We ran to the theater and tried to get into the theater through the backdoor. The door was locked.

I pulled out the Mercury Hammer and pounded the door with all my might, but it had no effect. The "friends" started getting really close, and soon they were grasping at us, trying to pull us in with them.

The theater door opened. An Asian kid roughly our age told us to quickly get inside. We rushed into the door, and the kid closed the door behind us. He ran onto the theater stage and told us to follow him. The "friends" pounding outside the door convinced us to keep going.

The kid was standing at the center of the stage. The theater was dark. I asked him, "What is your name and why are you helping us?"

"My name is Adrian Trinh, and I'm not actually helping you."

"Wait what!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Lights On!" Adrian commanded. The theater lights suddenly turned on, and inside the theater were a crowd of "friends" sitting in the audience. They all ran onto the stage and swarmed Jonathan and I. They fought over us like we were the only people left on the planet that had any sense of what was going on. Adrian ran off to stage right and exited through an exit in the crowd.

"Lightning Field," I cried out. A powerful shockwave hit the crowd of "friends" and left them all momentarily stunned. Jonathan and I quickly dashed out of the theater and followed Adrian.

Adrian soon came to a corner of the campus and was trapped. He tried escaping, but Jonathan pulled out the Daybreak Shield/Zenith Blade and used a "Zenith Blade" spell to lock Adrian in place. I rushed up and brought him down. He tried pulling a knife on me, but I figured out by now that this was a dream, so I gave myself martial art skills and stopped him before he could stab me.

I threw him aside and punched him across the face. "You'll pay for this," he said. I picked up the Mercury Hammer and slapped him across the hall. He died and from him came a whirlpool of dark energy that sucked Jonathan and I into it.

We knew then who our enemy was in this world.

Dream World: Darkness

I got up and looked around. There was nothing but darkness and emptiness. A bright light appeared and Jonathan materialized into the darkness.

"Where are we," asked Jonathan.

"I don't know," I replied. Soon a bright stone brick path appeared before us; it led to some unknown destination. We followed it, unaware of where it might lead us. All we knew is that we felt destined to follow it.

We continued to walk and encountered another whirlpool of dark energy. This time, rather than be sucked into it. The energy flowed out and brought forth a forest. Not just any forest, but the kind that would normally be seen in horror movies where you know something is out there, but you have to go through it anyways because the writer tells you to go into it. The branches of the trees stuck out like bones, and each nook and cranny covered in shadows.

The bright steps that guided us here continued to lead us into the forest, but when Jonathan tried stepping into the forest, he felt an invisible barrier that prevented him from going any farther. I trudged into the forest and continued to follow the bright steps that made a pathway into the center of the forest.

While I was in the forest, I felt like I was being constantly watched. The shiny path stopped and faded away. A shiny of pair of eyes came up from the darkness in front of me. I felt utterly frightened, without the help of Jonathan, what was I going to do. The eyes continued to creep forward, and standing before me was a black nine tailed fox.

"Oh, ha I thought you were a monster or something like that," I said to myself.

Then a dark energy engulfed the fox and transformed it into the shadow of a woman. The woman had nine tails, and reminiscently reminded me of Hannah. However it gave an essence of malevolence, and I armed myself with the Mercury Hammer. However, it also gave me the feeling that something was trapped behind it, and I was the only one capable of releasing it.

This shadow "Ahri" led off her attack with a "Spirit Dash." I dodged the first one, but she came around and pummeled me with the next two dashes.

"To the Skies," I said. I jumped up and smacked the shadow "Ahri" into the ground. The shadow got back up quickly and dashed further into the woods. I followed her, but her dark figure melded in with the environment. Her shadowy figure camouflaged her and hid her from my vision. She launched her bright blue orb at me from the cover of darkness, and I dodged it. She launched a series of flames at me, and I was hit by those, and she returned her orb, and I was damaged by its return trip.

"Ugh," I grunted.

Then she lifted her hands above her and summoned several fox fire balls. She then pointed her hands at me and launched all of them. I managed to dodge a couple, but I was hit by the rest. I was sent flying toward the edge of the barrier where Jonathan was waiting.

Shadow "Ahri" continued her bombardment of spells on me. I ran toward her trying to dodge the spells as I got closer. I was hit by several of the spells, and by the

"To the skies," I said. Once again, I smacked her into the ground. Before she could recover, I used "Lightning Field," temporarily disabling her. I ended the combo with "Thundering Blow." The shadow "Ahri" was launched into the barrier.

The shadow "Ahri" recovered and launched a series of "Spirit Dashes" to weaken me more. Also, I realized that every time she hit me with a spell. She has the potential of replenishing her own energy because of her passive spell vamp.

"Thomas," Jonathan said, "get her close so I can Zenith Blade in or something."

"Good idea," I said. I quickly ran toward the barrier and she came up from behind me. I used "To the Skies" to jump behind the shadow "Ahri." Then I smacked her into the barrier using "Thundering Blow" and stunned her for a bit.

Jonathan focused his energy into the tip of the Zenith Blade, and instead he got something entirely different than the "Zenith Blade" spell.

"Solar Flare," Jonathan said. A wide burst of light energy surrounded the shadow "Ahri, and then she was engulfed in a blinding light. When she came out of the cocoon of light, she was dazed by the light that had consumed her. The shadow surrounding her had begun to crack.

I started hitting her with the Mercury Hammer. With each hit, a part of the shadow fell off her revealing a bright red dress and flesh. She put her hands up to summon out another "Fox Fire" spell, and she quickly fired it off at me.

"Lightning Field," I said. A wall of lightning surrounded me once more, blocking the spell. The shadow "Ahri" realized she was defeated, and I said, "Thundering Blow." When the Hammer made contact with her, much of the remaining shadow came off, and she went flying into a tree. When she hit the tree, the rest of the shadow dissipated revealing the shadow "Ahri's" full form.

Light soon filled the dark world, and the dark forest became a forest that could be imagined from a picture book. The darkness had disappeared revealing the serene nature that the forest probably once was before the darkness came.

I rushed over to the woman and picked her up. I looked down and her. I realized that she looked exactly like the Ahri from the game. Shocked I gently put her down and crawled back a bit. Her eyes opened, and she looked up at me.

"You came back for me," she said, "thank you, Jayce. I guess you really did want to pay off your debt to me." She smiled. I oddly looked at her wondering why she would say that.

She put her arms around me, and I figured where this was going. I pushed her away. "Same old Jayce, never wanting to have some fun in your life, hm, but that's what separates you from all the rest of the men I've ever met, true and noble 'till the end," she said. "I guess it is time for me to go. I can't stay here any longer. I've used up all my energy. My body won't stay like this anymore."

Her body became wrapped in light, and as Jonathan walked toward me. She burst into a bunch of little embers that flew into the sky.

"Wow," Jonathan said, "Lucky butt."

"What, I'm not gonna do that, no way," I said.

"But still."

"Not even going to talk about it."

After I said that, a portal opened. A bracelet was all that was left from Ahri, I didn't know what it was but I picked it up anyways, guessing it was some cool item that could be potentially used later.

We decided to walk into it, wondering what will happen next in the dream world.


	5. The Eternal Nightmare

**Summary:**** Rin, Jennifer, Darren, Wanny, Jonathan, and Thomas step out of their dreams and into a new shared dream world that looks like a futuristic arena. In the center of the arena is their next opponent, and the opponent reveals himself to be Adrian. Who is this Adrian character?**

Rin walked into the room overwhelmed by the electronic lights that filled it. She was standing along the rim of a futuristic stadium. A crowd of people cheered someone on, but she could not tell who. On the other end of the stadium stood an elevated, a portal opened and out of it came Adrian, and he sat down on a digital version of the throne he sat on in her world. She was surprised to see the same Adrian she swore she just cut down in the previous world.

Another portal opened, and Jennifer fell out of a pool of water. After she coughed up the water from her lungs and opened her eyes; she too had the same reaction that Rin had when she entered the stadium. On the chair, she saw the person who had saved her several times in the previous dream world, Adrian.

A portal opened from the top of the stadium, and Darren and Wanny both fell out of it. When they got up, both of them were surprised to see Captain Adrian there. Both of them swore they had ditched him when they escaped the "Night Terror."

A final portal opened out of the center of the stadium, and Jonathan and I walked out of it. I was still had my Mercury Hammer armed, and Jonathan had the Daybreak Shield and Zenith Blade ready. We both recognized the face of the person who set us up in the theater and left us for dead.

"Adrian, how are you here," Rin, "I swear I killed you."

"You killed him! What," Jennifer exclaimed, "Adrian, come down, and explain to them how many times you saved me."

"Saved," Wanny said, "that guy ordered Darren to kill me."

"Yeah," Darren said, "some savior."

"He tricked us too," I said, "you left us to die from that horde of zombie 'friends.' "

"Well," Adrian said, "I guess you all met me at some point." He smiled, "and each of you has mixed feelings about me." He paused, "I speculate that the majority believes I betrayed them at some point, and then either left them for dead or attempted to kill you. Rin believes I actually died. Darren and Wanny believe that I survived the fatal wound and attempted to kill both of you. And I think Thomas and Jonathan have figured out my true identity. And I forgot Jennifer, oh well, you believe I died saving you, isn't that sweet, but no one here will believe your story."

Jennifer cried a little. Rin tried to comfort her, but Jennifer pushed her off.

"I have to finish up some business," he said, "but I'll stay and have some fun."

Jonathan and I saw him jump up to a different floor of the stadium. While Adrian tricked everyone to believe he jumped down onto the stadium.

Then Rin swung at me with her rapier. I dodged the attack and continued to block the rest of her attacks. Wanny, from behind Rin, launched a "Mystic Shot" at me and hit me in the chest. The shot stung like a bee as the energy passed into me. I got back up only to find Darren barreling toward me with his anchor in hand.

"Heeyah," Darren said as he swung the anchor at me. I blocked the attack with my hammer, but the tremendous force behind the transferred into the ground and dented the ground below me. I shoved him off, but Rin continued to dash up to me again.

Jonathan and Jennifer flew in front of me, and Jennifer pounded Rin with what appeared to be musical notes.

"Jennifer! What are you doing? Do you not see he is the enemy," Rin said.

"No, stop hurting him, he's our friend," Jennifer replied, "stop attacking Adrian."

"Wait, I'm Adrian," I said, "no, it's me, Thomas. Rin can't you recognize me."

"You are no one to me, Adrian," Rin said, "just a lousy bag of scum that left me for dead in that dungeon."

"What but I didn't do that," I said

"Yeah, seriously, it's Thomas," Jonathan said, "don't attack him."

"No way, it can't be," Darren said, "he has every characteristic of Adrian, even the Long Sword, he's carrying."

"What are you talking about; I'm not carrying a long sword," I said.

"He's just stalling, let's finish him," Darren exclaimed, "DREDGE LINE." I tried to jump out of its range, but the anchor caught me by the foot.

"Aww, crap," I sighed. I was pulled into Darren, and Darren continued with his combo, "Riptide." A burst of aquatic energy came from Darren. I was pushed away from him by the rolling tide of the skill.

"Essence Flux," Wanny commanded. His gloved became charged with a bunch of orbs, and he aimed the tiny balls of energy at me. I was soon flustered by the array of orbs and I took some damage from them.

Rin dashed toward me again, but she was denied by Jonathan who had pulled up his shield to protect me from the assault of attacks.

"Aria of Perserverance," Jennifer said. A wave of green musical notes floated toward me, and I was soon healed from my injuries.

"Thanks, Jennifer," I said.

"No problem, Adrian," she replied.

"I just said, 'I'm not Adrian,' "

"But, you have every aspect of him," she said.

"Wake up, Jennifer," I said. Those words rang through her mind as she realized that something was wrong. She closed her eyes and opened them again, but instead of Adrian standing there; it was Thomas.

"What the," she covered her mouth surprised about the sudden transformation. She knew this wasn't the evil Thomas that struck down her friends on the boat. It was obvious by the lack of the dark aura and odd mysteriousness about him.

I readied my hammer again. Darren led off the attack, but I dodged his anchor and swung at his head with the hammer. He fell back unconscious. Then Rin attacked me again, I dodged and deflected her attacks and went around behind her. I hit the back of her neck, and she blacked out.

Wanny frightened by the sudden turn around tried to flee. I took control of the dream and gave myself super speed. I caught up to him easily and threw an uppercut at his chin, instantly knocking him out.

"Why would you do that," Jonathan asked.

"They have to re-awaken in order to fix the image that Nocturne set for them," I said.

"Ah, I see, but did you have to do that," he asked.

"Well do you want to sit down and try to convince them that, I'm not Adrian, when apparently I look, sound, and act like him."

"…"

Private Room Overlooking the Arena

In his private room, Nocturne watches as the fight between the heroes ensues, and with him is a young man who is roughly a bit older than the rest of the guys.

"Enjoying the mess you created, Adrian," Nocturne said with a smug. The copy of Adrian's body he was using was consumed with dark energy, and Nocturne released himself from it and became the dark cloud of terror he normally is.

"Why would you do this, Nocturne," the real Adrian asked.

"I enjoy causing dissension, Adrian. Why else," Nocturne replied.

"Let them go, get out of my head," he said.

Nocturne angered by Adrian's complaints pulled out his blade and put it at Adrian's throat. "Well, Adrian, I'm not allowed to do that, I am under Elise's command. Say anything else that angers me, and you won't be able to speak at all. You got that."

"Fine," Adrian said, "but why would you use my subconscious to hold a battle between these people."

"Because, I can," Nocturne continued, "I'm the master of nightmares and of course I can do whatever I like in this world. Also, the reason why this final battle is hosted here is upon Elise's orders."

"Elise," Adrian replied, "why do I recognize that name." A sudden splash of memories hit him. He suddenly remembered a time when he and a girl with red and black hair were sitting on a beach together. Then the moment ended, and he was back in his dream world. The world shook, and Nocturne became worried. Nocturne pointed the blade back at Adrian's neck.

"Woah," Nocturne said, "don't think too much, or else you might ruin the world I have set up for these pathetic humans."

Nocturne watched as Thomas saw through his strategy and knocked everyone out.

"This one is an interesting one," Nocturne said to himself, "he is truly a talented individual just like the champion he represents. The others have also developed in their powers so quickly as well. It seems that Master Elise didn't plan expect for this to happen, or maybe they are receiving help from a higher power."

"Hmph, I still don't see why you have me so involved in this," Adrian said.

"Apparently you have a very special connection to Elise, and she wanted to use your mind for this part of her plan."

Arena Floor

The world shook violently like a devastating earthquake. I looked down and saw below me a sandy beach. All of a sudden, just as quickly as the shaking began, it stopped.

I looked around, and everyone was back on their feet.

"Thomas," Rin said softly, "sorry we attacked you there. We were all convinced you were Adrian."

"Same here, but only Adrian was my friend in my dream and not an enemy."

"I figured that much," I said, "the terror of the night, Nocturne, is in control of this dream. He tricked all of you into believing that I was Adrian just to make us fight each other."

"Aah," Darren sighed, "what do we do now?"

"I don't know," I replied, "but I'm guessing that Nocturne is up there."

I pointed at the top of a tower that had a clear view of the arena. It emanated a dark energy that over time I could identify with ease.

"How do we get up there," Wanny asked.

"That's what I'm wondering," I replied, "I'm guessing that if we all had the same control over dream space, we could just jump up there like he did, but only Wanny and I have that much power in the dream world."

"Wait, I can do that," Rin said.

"Yeah but what about Jennifer and Jonathan," I said.

"Right," Rin sighed.

"_Over here,"_ said the angelic voice. A doorway opened and a bunch of bright steps were created beyond it, _"this pathway will take you directly to Nocturne."_

"That voice," I said.

"_Yes, it is time for one more of you to gain control of your powers, but there is one more trial ahead, before you can finally leave the dream world," _the angelic voice said.

"Can we know who you are yet," I asked.

"_In due time, Thomas,"_ the angelic voice said, _"go through the door and triumph over this enemy as you have with previous foes." _

"Ok," I replied, "everyone, let's go and end this once and for all.

Private Room

"That voice," Nocturne said, "no way."

"What," Adrian said, "finally found out the higher power that's helping them?"

"Yes," he replied, "why does she have to interfere?"

"Who," Adrian asked.

"The Child of the Stars," Nocturne replied grimly, "Soraka."

"Soraka?"

"Yes, Soraka, the wish granter."

"Well that can't be good for you," Adrian laughed.

"Shut up." Nocturne pointed the blade back at his neck; this time the cold steel was digging into his flesh. When Nocturne pulled it out, a tiny bit of blood dripped out. Nocturne angrily floated out of the room and opened a portal out of that dream world.

Darkness

"Where is this pathway leading," Wanny asked, "it hasn't gone up at all."

Then a spiral stairway upward led the group to a circular stained glass piece that had an image of Elise without all her spidery wear and in a simple, white summer dress, staring out at a sea. Beside her were two boys roughly her age, one of them appeared to look like Adrian, the other appeared to be in the image of Adrian's brother Brian.

"_Here is where he will be_," the angelic voice said.

"What is this image of," I asked.

"_It is a memory of the dreamer_," she said, _"even I have no idea what it is about, but I'm guessing that he knew Elise long before she became queen of the spiders_."

"I see," I said.

There was another pathway ascending to a similar stained glass piece, this one had an image of an island continent, in the middle was a jewel, and the jewel shielded the land with some sort of supernatural presence. As we continued to examine the picture, the room had become darker and darker.

"_I'm sorry, I can't stay any longer,"_ the voice said, _"the evil is coming closer. It is now your job to defeat it."_

The angelic voice faded out and the darkness crept over the land described in the picture until every part of the land was shaded and the jewel faded in luminosity.

"Welcome, to the final stage of the dream, the supposed climax," said Nocturne from the darkness, "I will be your host in this frightful climax to this dream world. Hehehehe."

We armed ourselves with the powers we had gained.

Nocturne, in a copy of Adrian's body, pulled out two long swords with jagged edges. At the hilts of these blades was skull like figures of some beast unknown to our world. The swords themselves appeared to be forged not of steel but of the darkness that surrounded us. They radiated such a powerful darkness that I became sick, but I knew that this fight must be done to break free from the land of the dream.

I lifted the Mercury Hammer into the air. "LIGHTNING FIELD!"

The darkness was suddenly lit up by the bright light of the Mercury Hammer. I looked at Nocturne with the fiery passion that only warriors knew in battle.

"That's what I want to see," Nocturne said. He charged forward and pulled the blades behind him dragging them across the stained glass floor and creating sparks as he charged forward.

Our next battle had begun, our foe, the "King of Nightmares," "The Terror of the Night," but more widely known in the League of Legends lore as "The Eternal Nightmare."


	6. The Light in the Darkness

**Summary:**** The group in the dream world now faces the final and only enemy in this world, Nocturne. Will they be able to defeat the "Eternal Nightmare?"**

Nocturne, in Adrian's body, charged forward at Wanny, he slashed at him savagely, trying to take a slice of his flesh with one of the jagged blades of his. Jonathan used "Zenith Blade" to snare Nocturne in place but an odd ghostly, blue shadow appeared around Nocturne that protected him from the spell. When the ghostly shadow disappeared, Nocturne's attack speed only doubled.

"That must've been Shroud of Darkness," Jonathan said. I jumped out from behind Jonathan by using "To the Skies" and slammed the hammer down upon Nocturne.

Nocturne put up one of his blades to deflect the attack and then threw me off using his off hand. With the opening I provided him, Wanny opened fire with several "Mystic Shots" and "Essence Fluxes," bombarding Nocturne with repeated light abilities.

When Nocturne recovered, he picked up his blades and continued to slash randomly at whoever was in his attack range. He dashed toward Rin and swung both blades down at her.

"Riposte," she commanded, and she deflected the attack and returned some of the damage at him. Then she followed up with several rapid attacks with the power of "Burst of Speed." The body that Nocturne was using was getting beat and cut up, but he still wouldn't back down.

Darren used "Dredge Line" to pull himself closer to Nocturne and stunned him with one swing of his anchor. Then, Darren used "Riptide" to damage Nocturne further, but Nocturne recovered yet again and slashed at Darren. Darren was unable to keep up with deflecting the vicious attacks with his anchor, so he activated the spell "Titan's Wrath" which shielded him from further damage.

Jennifer played the keyboard in the background, she provided healing and movement speed boosts whenever it was necessary. When Darren's barrier faded away, Jennifer healed him of his injuries, and when Wanny finished his barrage of spells, she healed him as well.

The battle continued, but Nocturne, who needed rest from the fight, fled to another stained glass battlefield. He jumped up several platforms, and reached one very high up in the darkness.

We used the lighted stairways to follow him up the platforms, at the first platform, there were a group of minions that were easily cleared out. They were only melee and castor minions, but as we got higher, the groups of minions began to change, but we managed to beat them all.

Somewhere on the seventh platform, we encountered the Lizard Elder. The giant reptile swung its tail at us we were all knocked to the sides of the platform. Wanny fell off the platform, but I caught him just in time. When we all got back up, the Lizard Elder roared ferociously.

We soon noticed that behind the monster was a pathway that led to the final platform that Nocturne had reserved for himself. He glared at us, and suddenly a wide gate opened back into the dream realm, and Nocturne walked through it. The gate shut behind him.

"Shoot," Wanny said, "how are we supposed to, A) get past this monster, B) reopen that gateway?"

"We'll figure something out," I replied, "hopefully."

"I'll take on the Lizard," said Darren, "you guys go on ahead."

"Me too," Rin added.

The rest of the group, Wanny, Jennifer, Jonathan, and me, went on to the next platform while Darren and Rin stayed behind to take on the Lizard elder.

8th Platform

"Now, how are we going to get through this," I asked myself. I stared up at the gigantic gateway, puzzled by its power.

"_Let me lend you a hand,"_ the voice whispered.

The Mercury Hammer glowed with a golden aura.

"_Now break open that door,"_ the voice commanded. I brought the hammer behind my head and swung at the door with all my might. The door burst open and revealed the top of a skyscraper. The weather on the other side was conveniently stormy weather with powerful gales of wind already pouring through the opening I had created.

Nocturne stood at the center of the helicopter pad on the skyscraper and waited for us to cross through the doorway into his final field of combat.

7th Platform

Rin and Darren squared off with the Lizard Elder. The giant reptile roared revealing its powerful fighting spirit and the buff that it possessed.

"If I remember correctly," Darren said, "that red aura surrounding the lizard gives it the ability to inflict burning damage upon enemies that engage it."

"Well that sounds great," Rin said with a hint of sarcasm, "I guess we just can't let it touch us then."

"Go figure, we're both using melee based abilities. We have to get close."

"We'll figure out a plan," she replied. The lizard swung its gigantic tail at them once more, and Darren blocked it with his gigantic anchor. Rin soon followed up by lunging at the core of the beast. She was able to inflict some damage but not nearly enough to bring the Lizard down.

The giant reptile roared again and slammed its hind legs against Rin.

"Riposte," Rin commanded. She parried the attack and reflected some of the damage back at the Lizard Elder.

Darren followed up with an attack with his anchor that stunned the Lizard. He then said, "Riptide" and swept the monster off its feet with the waves that came out from beneath Darren.

Rin came in for another lunge type attack but the Lizard recovered itself quickly from Darren's attacks and charged up a beam of energy in its mouth. Rin stopped in her tracks, knowing that she was unable to block the next attack.

Darren stepped in front of her and positioned himself to block the attack. "Titan's Wrath," he calmly said. A barrier surrounded the two of them, and the Lizard Elder launched a deadly flamethrower like attack upon them. The barrier created by "Titan's Wrath" was able to shield the two of them from the flames, and Rin jumped out from behind Darren.

She unleashed a flurry of slashes empowered by the ability, "Burst of Speed." She finished off the Lizard with a set of two lunges at the beast's chest and back.

The lizard roared one last time and then fell down. As it fell, it turned into ashes and all that remained was a crimson red relic that represented the power it once had.

"It's yours," Darren said, "you laid the finishing blow."

"Well that's interesting."

"Yeah, and your blade will also inflict burn damage on anyone it cuts."

"Well that's good to know," she said, "let's catch up with the others."

They headed out across the lighted pathway onto the 8th platform.

Skyscraper: Adrian's Dream World

Wanny, Jennifer, Jonathan, and I stepped onto the wet concrete of the skyscraper. The wind assaulted us from all sides, and one misplaced step could lead to falling off the skyscraper to your doom.

"You finally caught up with me humans," Nocturne yelled into the wind, "now it is time for me to show you the reason why I'm the eternal nightmare."

Nocturne's flesh body burst into flames and revealed his well known dark cloud of terror. He armed himself with his blades of darkness, the Umbra Blades. He disappeared with a gust of wind and reappeared right in front of me.

"Unspeakable Horror," he said maliciously. A pair of dark chains locked my wrists together, they caused such pain in me and transmitted horrible images into my mind that it was nearly impossible to focus.

"Get away from him," Jennifer cried, "Crescendo." A powerful wave of music ascended from her keyboard but Nocturne countered the ability with one of his own.

"Shroud of Darkness," Nocturne ominously spoke. A blue shield surrounded him blocked the wave of music causing it to distort and turn into a horrendous tune that shattered our ears.

"Zenith Blade," Jonathan said. He launched his sword toward Nocturne and pulled himself into him. Nocturne lost his control over my mind, and I slowly recovered from the horrors he had shown me. "Eclipse," Jonathan murmured. Jonathan's shield turned the defensive energy stored by "Eclipse" into a wave of light energy that burned through Nocturne's dark being.

Nocturne, knowing Leona's abilities, knew that his defenses would be temporarily weakened until the power of "Eclipse" was recharged. He used the attack speed boost provided by blocking the powerful "Crescendo" ultimate to bombard Jonathan with a series of quick attacks with the Umbra Blades.

Jonathan was only capable of blocking so many hits with his shield, but Nocturne's raw power and speed overwhelmed him and threw off his near perfect guard. Nocturne had dashed behind him and cut him down.

Jennifer went over to Jonathan and did whatever she could to help him out.

While Jennifer was helping Jonathan, Wanny stepped in to make sure she doesn't get harmed. "Essence Flux," Wanny commanded. His glove fired out a small wave of balls of light at Nocturne. These balls of light burned through Nocturne's body of darkness. "Nice," Wanny said to himself.

I recovered from Nocturne's initial attack and saw that Nocturne had taken significant damage from the magical power of Wanny's glove. Nocturne soon charged right at Wanny, so that the distance between them could be closed, and Wanny would have a lot harder time aiming the skill shots at him.

"To the skies," I called out. I jumped over Nocturne and slammed him into the ground, and then I followed up with a "Thundering Blow." Nocturne knew that was going to happen, and he became a formless cloud of darkness. My attack went through him. "No way," I said, "I don't remember that ever being one of Nocturne's powers."

When I spun back around, Nocturne returned to his normal form. "Duskbringer," he said calmly. He pointed one of his ghostly arms forward and fired a fist of darkness right at me. I reacted by falling backwards, but the attack went through me. I opened up my shirt and saw that a huge bruise in the shape of a fist on my chest. I coughed up a bit of blood and glared at Nocturne.

He pulled up one of his Umbra blades and was about to bring it down upon me, but I saw someone coming from the corner of my eye.

Rin flashed in front of me and blocked the attack with her Rapier, "Riposte." She parried the attack and whirled her blade. She slashed off a part of Nocturne's body, and Nocturne quickly burst into flames because of the Lizard Elder buff Rin had.

"Dredge Line," Darren called out. An anchor was thrown all the way from the entrance of the portal to Nocturne. He sent Nocturne flying towards him, and then delivered a devastating blow with his anchor, stunning him for a second.

When Nocturne regained his strength, Rin flew towards him again. Both of them had a marvelous exchange of swordsmanship. They were relatively equal, each being able to block and counterattack each other with relative ease.

"Let me help you out," Darren said loudly, "Depth Charge." He sent a torpedo flying towards Nocturne, but Nocturne knew that one of them was going to do an attack like that.

"Shroud of Darkness," Nocturne whispered. When the torpedo hit him, it turned into dust, and Nocturne absorbed the strength of the attack, "you humans are so predictable." Nocturne soon latched another set of chains to Rin for his spell, "Unspeakable Horror" and channeled the dark energy into Rin. He then followed up with a series of brutal attacks.

I recovered my strength and dashed toward Nocturne. "Get away from her," I said. I used a "Thundering Blow" that knocked Nocturne to the edge of the skyscraper. Meanwhile Jennifer helped Rin recover, but Rin, through sheer will, got up. In her eyes burned a fire unlike any I've seen in a very long time.

"I'm tired of you, Nocturne or Adrian, time to end this," Rin declared, "Blade Waltz." Rin soon flew across the skyscraper straight toward Nocturne and like a butterfly flew around him, but each time she struck him, Nocturne burst into flames.

"Kyah, you humans, I should've ended you all when I had the chance in your own dreams, I could've driven you all into madness, but I underestimated you," he said, "No holding back now. DARKNESSSSS!" The whole world became consumed in darkness. I held out my hand in front of me, or at least I thought it was in front me, and I brought it closer. I couldn't even see it even though, supposedly, it was right in front my face. I look around, and for as far as the eye could see, was plain darkness.

"So this is what it's like," I said, "Nocturne's ultimate ability, Paranoia." I start to think about what might happen, the thoughts of having that blade suddenly shoved through me without notice filled every corner of my mind. I see shadows moving in and out in the distance, but I step farther back thinking that those shadows might be Nocturne.

"Adrian, Adrian come back," I hear Jennifer say in the distance. I run toward the sound, but I trip over something. I slam my head against what I think is a flight of stairs. I get back up and wave my hands around to feel for something. I touch someone's back.

"Who is that," Rin asked.

"Oh it's just me," I reply.

"Did you hear Jennifer," I asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

We soon trip over a body, but it was just Jonathan who was aching from the damage he received while fighting Nocturne. We eventually find Wanny and Darren huddled together in a corner. The darkness is lifted, and we see Jennifer suspended in mid-air, held by none other than Nocturne.

"Poor girl," Nocturne said, "to believe you would fall for the Adrian trick not just once, twice, but three times, pathetic."

"Let me go," Jennifer demanded.

Nocturne hovered over the side of the building. "Should I let you go now," he asked.

Jennifer stared down into the abyss below the building; she made no comment.

We rush over to her and Nocturne. "Let her go or I swear," Nocturne cuts off my heroic phrase.

"You swear you'll do what," Nocturne said with a smirk, "attack me, the girl dies, or don't attack me, and I'll experiment with her. Guess what that experiment is?"

"What," I asked.

"We'll see if falling in a dream really leads to death in real life," he laughed.

Jonathan gets up and uses the Zenith Blade as a crutch. He begins to say a phrase that we'll always remember.

"I."

"What are you doing, I thought you were a goner for sure," Nocturne said.

"AM."

"No stop it," Nocturne puts up one hand, "Duskbringer."

Jonathan puts his shield and blocks the attack."SUPPORT! SOLAR FLARE!" he cried out.

A circle of sunlight surrounds Nocturne, and Nocturne pulls up his "Shroud of Darkness" but the power of the sunlight cancels out the effect of his shield. "No, this can't be." He drops Jennifer, but Darren uses a "Dredge Line" to pull her to safety.

"To the Skies," I jump up to Nocturne and slam him with a "Thundering Blow." I see Darren's anchor, and I grab onto it as he is pulling Jennifer back up.

Nocturne breaks free of the "Solar Flare" that Jonathan set up, but Wanny takes advantage of the moment.

"Nice going, Jon, now time to lay down the hurt," Wanny said. He smiled, and then unleashed a barrage of spells at Nocturne. He threw down several "Mystic Shots," "Essence Fluxes," and even the bolts fired from his "Arcane Shift."

"Wanny," I called out, "End this now. You are the only one that really does a lot of damage to him for some reason."

"Ok boss," he replies, "I'm going to need someone to root him down."

"Got it dude, just tell me when you are ready," Jonathan said.

Wanny pulls his glove in front of him. The glove begins to give off a powerful aura of blue energy which then materializes into a bow of light.

"KYAAHHHHH," Wanny cries out.

"NOW JONATHAN," I command.

"Zenith Blade," he exclaimed. A beam of light is shot out from Jonathan's blade, and Jonathan turned into a ray of light and rematerialized next to Nocturne. He held him down for as long as he could.

Wanny's glove now fully charged, emanated a golden aura, the bow was now nearly 10 feet long. He pointed the magical bow at Nocturne.

"This can't be," Nocturne cried out.

"TRUESHOT BARRAGE!"Wanny exclaimed. A golden arc of fire burst from Wanny's glove and went straight toward Nocturne. Jonathan released him at the last second, but Nocturne only stood there gazing into the light as it passed straight through him. The golden arc sliced Nocturne in half and he fell into the abyss below the skyscraper. A dark energy pulsed throughout the dream world, and then faded. The storm that had hovered over the skyscraper the whole fight faded, and the sun shined through.

The sun grew significantly stronger and then an instant we all disappeared.

Unknown Field

The grass gently waved back and forth in the light breeze. I stood there in awe of the untouched beauty of the environment. Then I saw someone sitting on a rock enjoying the scene just as much as I was.

The rest of the group entered into this unknown world right behind me and followed me to the rock.

The person sitting on the rock was a woman with odd looking goat legs and a horn on her head.

"_Greetings heroes,_" she said calmly, _"do not be alarmed, I am the one who has helped you_."

"Who are you exactly," I asked.

"_I am Soraka_," she said.

"Woah no way, that's just, wow," I stammered. The rest just stood there.

"_In a few moments, all of you will wake up, I will use my abilities to restore you all to full health, and you will be back in reality as good as new."_

"Wait but."

"_I'll explain more at a later date, but I will be helping all of you from time to time to defeat the evil that has come to your world."_

We were once again engulfed in light.

Hospital Bedroom

I slowly open my eyes.

My body feels like lead with an unnatural weight near my hip.

I look around and see Hannah looking at me. Our eyes meet, and she puts her arms around me.

"Welcome back, Thomas," she whispers into my ear.

Everyone else slowly rises up.

The rising sun bursts through the windows of the hospital room. I shut my eyes again in response to the light pain in my retina. My eyes slowly, but surely, readjust to the light after being in the darkness for so long.

"How long has it been," I asked Hannah.

"Three days," she said.

I get off the bed and rise up to my feet. I grab the Mercury Hammer keychain and walk out of the room.

_**To be Continued…**_


	7. The Lighthouse Dream

**Epilogue: Elise's Dream Realm**

Elise, who appeared to be only ten years old, walked around the streets of Bilgewater in a depressed state. She wore only a simple white dress which had become dirty from being out in the streets for nearly a month and a floppy pair of sandals that she found in a trash pile.

She came across an alley and found a small wooden box. The skies filled with cloud, and soon the rain poured down upon her. She scurried into the small box and hid there while it rained.

Two suspicious men were walking down the street, and they spotted her inside the wooden box.

"Little girl, get out of there," one of them said mockingly, "don't be afraid, we won't bite."

Elise crawled out of the little box and slowly turned around and saw them. She walked toward them.

"That's a good girl," the other said, "c'mon, now, we'll get you to a nice and warm place."

Elise continued to walk forward, but she noticed one of them had scars on his wrist where handcuffs used to be, and on the other, were tattoos that of a well-known mob in Bilgewater, they were particularly known for capturing girls to sell into slavery.

When Elise noticed these things, she took off. The two men chased after her. She ran through the sparsely crowded streets in order to evade these two men. She shoved over baskets and pots from vendors to slow their advance, but they were still ferociously chasing after her.

Elise soon ran into a dead end at another alleyway. She found a ladder and tried to climb up it, but the two men dragged her down to the ground and proceeded to beat her. She was horrified by what she was experiencing, but then, from the rooftops, two boys jumped down.

The two boys were roughly her age, and both of them were wearing hoods to disguise themselves. One of them wielded a blade that had an orange glow to it. The other boy fought only with his bare hands, but he was swift and deadly like a ninja. These two boys fought the two men without fear.

The ninja boy was capable of incapacitating the man with the tattoos with swift blows to the gut and to the face. He finished him off with some crazy martial artist move that could only be staged or practiced.

The other boy that wielded the sword fought the man with the scars on his wrists. The man pulled out a gigantic sword and swung down at the boy. The boy swung back at him with all his might, and the sword he was using sliced the man's sword in half. Then he swung again and continued to slice the man's sword into tiny bits until there was nothing left.

When the two men realized they were beat, they ran off in fear.

"Come with us," the bare handed one said, "they'll come back with reinforcements."

Elise nodded her head and ran off with them. They ran through the countryside of Bilgewater until they reached a lighthouse. At the lighthouse, they settled down and took a deep breath.

"Welcome to our home," the one with the hood said. He removed his hood and introduced himself, "my name is Adrian." Adrian had loose jet black hair and a paler skin tone. He wore a blue, long sleeve shirt and tan pants to accompany it.

The other one removed his hood and introduced himself as well, "My name is Brian." He had blackish brown hair with a chubbier complexion. He also wore a white hooded jacket with red ends similar to that of assassins of that day. "What's your name," Brian asked.

"My name is…" she stuttered, "My name is Elise."

"Nice to meet you, Elise," Brian said cheerfully, his grin went from cheek to check.

"Yeah," Adrian added in, "let's go to the top of the lighthouse."

The three of them walked up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse. From there, they had an amazing view of the ocean of Valoran. The bright evening sun shined down upon them an in an almost ethereal way, made the water sparkle in every color of the rainbow.

"Why do you two live so far out," Elise asked.

"Well, I was born into this life," Brian said, "living without parents, being wild and free. Adrian here is a different story."

"My father was a great blacksmith in Bilgewater," Adrian said, "he made this blade for me the day before he died." Adrian pulled out the blade from his scabbard. It shined a bright orange in the evening sunlight that lighted the inside of the lighthouse, "it is called the Hex Drinker, a sword that can absorb the power of any magic it comes across."

"How did he die," Elise asked curiously. Adrian put his blade away and looked at her softly.

"Many people were jealous of one of his greatest creations, the Maw of Malfortius, it is also known as the mage killer. The blade is capable of protecting its user from any form of magic damage," he said, "a mob raided his shop and slaughtered him in anger. I ran away from them to avoid the same fate."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Elise said.

"Well, I told you my story," Adrian said, "what's yours, Elise?"

"I grew up in a well to do merchant family that lived in upper Bilgewater, for as long as I could remember, no one really liked me, and my best friends were always the spiders that were in our house. I would have interesting conversations and…" she was interrupted by Brian.

"You talk to spiders," he chuckled.

"Hey, its true," Elise said.

"Sure it is," Brian replied.

Elise looked up above him and saw a black widow dangling from its web.

"_Come down here," _she said to the spider. Slowly it rode a web down onto Brian's shoulder, _"Crawl on his face."_ The spider walked across his shoulder onto his neck and onto his face.

Brian, scared stiff by what she was doing, said, "stop it, please." He squinted as the spider was now on his nose.

"_Off_," Elise commanded. The spider flew off and crawled back onto the ceiling where its web was.

"So why did you leave," Adrian asked.

"My parents, tried several times to remove this "curse" from me and eventually they gave up and kicked me out of the house," she replied.

"I see," Adrian said, "well welcome to the club. Tomorrow we go on our first raid with you. Now here is the plan."

For the rest of the night, Adrian, Brian, and Elise collaborated on what they would do the next day

Bilgewater: Market Place

The vendors began to open up their shops. Bakeries filled the air with their freshly baked goods waiting to be sold. Soon the town became, once more, flooded with people of all sorts making their way in one of the largest centers of trade in all of Valoran.

Adrian walks into some of the shops and bakeries and distracts the vendors while Brian comes in and steals whatever items they need. On their list, they need an assortment of women's clothing for their new friend and food for the rest of the day. Eventually they have gathered everything through this method except one item, meat for dinner.

They approach the butcher's place, where the owner is known to do horrible stuff to anyone that attempts to steal his goods. However, the three of them concocted a plan unlike any robber could've imagined.

While Adrian and Brian were in the market doing their business, Elise had been collecting spiders to join in overthrowing the butcher. When it came time, Elise walked in with a purse full of spiders, and she approached the butcher.

"Can I have two of your best cuts of meat," she asked.

"Sure, that will be 150 gold coins," he said.

"I'm sorry but, I don't' have that kind of money," Elise replied.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave then," he responded, "I can't have riffraff like you in my butchery."

"Make me leave," she cried. He pulled out a knife to throw at her, but she opened the purse and out of it came hundreds of spiders. The butcher, so shocked by what he was seeing ran out of the store with the rest of the customers. In the confusion, Brian and Adrian snuck in through the back of the building and stole whatever they could before the butcher came back with an exterminator.

Soon the three of them ran off into the countryside laughing about what had just happened. Then they went onto an abandoned beach and enjoyed themselves for the rest of the day. Playing games, having a picnic, or just sitting down and talking about whatever was on their minds.

They continued to live life like this for the next seven years.

Bilgewater Countryside: Beach

Elise, Adrian, and Brian, now well into their teenage years, were sitting on the beach together for one last time.

Brian had his bags packed because he was going off into the wilderness the next day to pursue becoming a ninja like the famous trio of Akali, Shen, and Kennen. When the sun was setting, Brian got up and said his final goodbye and ninja hopped away into the hills.

Now Elise and Adrian were alone. Adrian fell back into the sand and looked up into the evening sky. It was a mix of blue and orange hues, truly a masterpiece waiting to be painted by some artist. Elise fell back into the powdery sand and looked up at the sky with him.

The sun was now almost gone, so the two of them made their way back to the lighthouse before the light was completely gone.

Bilgewater Countryside: Lighthouse

Adrian sat at the top of the lighthouse while Elise was downstairs changing into her night gown. He pulled out his knapsack and inside of it was a book. He was flipping through the pages when Elise peeped through the door to see what he was doing.

She sat down next to him, and Adrian tried to hide the book, but Elise pulled it out of the bag anyways.

"A book," she asked, "didn't know you could read, Adrian,"

"I can't read some parts of it," he replied, "I pulled it from out last raid a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping you could read it."

Elise flipped through the pages and saw that most of it was in her reading range, and she agreed to read it with him.

"Chapter 1," she said, "Thomas started school that day not knowing what fateful event lied before him. He had inherited a power like no other, the Hammer Of Justice…" They continued reading the epic throughout the night, eventually the two of them slept next to the fire they had set up.

The next morning, Adrian had gotten up early to collect more firewood. Elise went down to the water to bathe, and when they got back from their ventures, they continued where they had left off in the story.

"Thomas had succumbed to the might of the metallic warrior but then he was saved , by an unknown power, a fox with great strength and magical power. Their fates would soon be tied together from worlds so close yet so distantly spread apart," Adrian read.

"Wow that was pretty good," Elise said.

"Yeah, I guess I picked it up from you," he replied.

They continued to read the story, and all of its wonders. When they finished the final chapter that ended with the group of friends defeating the Terror Rider, Hecarim, Adrian asked, "why would the author end the story like that?"

"It's called a cliffhanger," Elise said, "this book is probably the first of a long series, which the author intends to write. It is designed to attract the audience to continue reading forward."

"Can we go out to the market tomorrow to find the next book?"

"Sure."

Sure enough, they went to the market place the next day and found the next part of the saga, "The Dream World." There they fell in love with each character's imaginations and found in it a great satisfaction. The book was only a short read, ending after the group defeats the nightmare that ruled their dream world.

Then Elise closed the book and looked at Adrian. She realized that she had begun to feel close to him in a way that couldn't be explained. Every time she was with him, in her heart she felt a part of her that was missing, every time they flipped a page, she longed more to be with him.

He put his arms around her because the cold night air had now begun to settle into the lighthouse, and he wanted to share his warmth. She followed and did the same together they continued reading into the sunrise of the next morning. When they finished the book, Elise's heart had begun to burn with the sense to be embraced by him, but then it happened.

Adrian had too felt the same feeling, and at that point he took initiative.

He put his arms around her and kissed her.

All the world stood still at that moment, the climax of their relationship had come, they dropped the book on the ground and the wind carried it off into the foamy ocean below.

All Adrian could feel was the softness of her lips, and Elise felt the one she wanted to be with sharing the same feelings she had for him.

When their lips parted, Elise shed a few tears, but Adrian wiped them away, and they kissed once more. When they had finished, Adrian and Elise held hands as they looked out into the ocean.

Shadow Isles: Elise's Chamber

Elise returned to reality, she had cried in her sleep as she reminisced upon past memories. That was the summary of what had been the greatest time in her life. She had not seen Adrian since that day, and now she wondered how he ended up in this world. She knew that eventually, they will meet, and they will once more revive that moment they shared on the lighthouse.

Her first order of business was to get rid of Thomas, the somehow prophesied hero of the story she had read with Adrian long ago.

Hospital

Everyone in that room stirred. Hannah, who was sitting on my bed, waited as I began to slowly get up. She hugged me for some reason, and I embraced her as well.

Now that everyone was reunited out of the world of dreams it was now time for their return to end the darkness that threatened the world.

Author's Note

_Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed this final installment of Rise of Heroes:Dream World. The next part of the story will be in __**Rise of Heroes:Return.**_


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